Consumer Federation of America

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), based in Washington, D.C., is the nation's largest consumer [Page 421]advocacy group. It is an umbrella of organizations and includes labor unions; state and local consumer organizations; and senior citizen, low-income, labor, farm, public power, and cooperative organizations. The initiative for founding the CFA in late 1967 came from a small group of consumer activists primarily from the labor unions, the President's Consumer Advisory Council, and the Consumers Union. At the time of its founding, it reported having 140 affiliates. By 2005 that number had climbed to 300. The CFA claims to indirectly have some 50 million members, a number that permits it to be a “voice for virtually all consumers.”

The CFA was originally intended to be an information ...